Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an actor and rapper. He first became famous in the late 1980s as the rap artist Fresh Prince. He made a very successful move into movies. He is the only actor in Hollywood history to make eight consecutive films that earned $100 million in the USA. ‘Newsweek’ magazine called him the most powerful actor on the planet.

 

Smith was born in 1968 and raised in Philadelphia. His mother was a school administrator and his father was a refrigeration engineer. He began rapping as a teenager. His friends nicknamed him The Prince. He met D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the duo became hip-hop stars in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1988, they won the first ever Grammy in the Rap category.

 

In 1990, the NBC television network signed Smith to star in the sitcom ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, which launched his acting career. Smith decided he would become “the biggest movie star in the world” and began studying box office successes. His studying paid off. His movies ‘Independence Day’ (1996) and ‘Men In Black’(1997) were both box office hits.

 

Smith is now one of Hollywood’s hottest actors. His movies make huge amounts of money and appeal across age, race, and gender. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe, two Academy Awards, and has won many Grammys. He has also appeared in movies with his son Jaden, in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, and his daughter Willow, in ‘I Am Legend’.